The purpose of this study is to analyse the funeral inventory from Grave 30 of the Eneolithic necropolis of Urziceni–Vamă. A 23- to 39-year-old man was buried in this grave in a crouched position. The inventory contains three vessels located near the legs, alongside stone, bone and copper tools, such as arrowheads, flakes, scrapers and a quiver made of a Bos primigenius horn. The quiver found in the grave is unique at this stage of discovery, indicating that this was an important person in the community, likely a hunter. The fact that such an inventory accompanied a man reflects the religious beliefs of the community: the extension beyond death of the same activities from his lifetime as well as, implicitly, his social status.

[1] Cristian Virag et al., “Urziceni, com. Urziceni, jud. Satu Mare. Punct: Vamă,” in Cronica cercetărilor arheologice din România 2006. Campania 2005 (București, 2006): 383–386.

[2] Cristian Virag, “Urziceni, com. Urziceni, jud. Satu Mare. Punct: Vamă,” in Cronica cercetărilor arheologice din România 2017. Campania 2016 (București, 2017): 150–151.

[3] Cristian Virag, “Cercetări arheologice la Urziceni-Vamă,” [Archaeological researches at Urziceni-Vamă], in Acta Musei Porolissensis XXVI (2004): 41–76.

[4] More details in Iharka Szücs-Csillik and Cristian Virag, “The orientation of the dead at Urziceni necropolis. An archaeoastronomical approach,” in Archeo-Vest, Nr. IV. In Honorem Adrian Bejan, Interdisciplinaritate în Arheologie și Istorie, Vol. 2 (Szeged: JATEPress Kiadó, 2016), 591–599.

[5] Neolithic art in Romania, exhibition catalogue “Meister der Steinzeitkunst – Frühe Kulturen aus Rumänien,” (Olten, 2008); Aurul şi argintul antic al României, Catalog de expoziţie [Ancient Gold and Silver of Romania, exhibition catalog] (București, 2013).

[6] Anthropological determinations were made by Zsuzsanna K. Zoffmann, Tamás Hajdu, and Tamás Szeniczey.

[7] Ida Bognar-Kutzian, The Copper Age Cemetery of Tiszapolgar-Basatanya (Budapest, 1963), 362–367.

[8] Ioan Nemeti, “Noi descoperiri arheologice din eneoliticul târziu din nord-vestul României,” [New archaeological discoveries from the Late Eneolithic from north-western Romania], in Acta Musei Porolissensis XII (1988): 121–145, Fig. 10/1.

[9] Pál Patay, “A fényeslitkei rézkorintemető,” [The Copper Age cemetery from Fényeslitke], in Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum. Évkonyve 11 (1969): 15–62, Tabla VI/12 and Tabla XI/7.

[10] Sabin Adrian Luca, Sfârșitul eneoliticului pe teritoriul intracarpatic al României. Cultura Bodrogkeresztúr [The end of the Eneolithic in the intracarpathian territory of Romania. The Bodrogkeresztúr culture] (Alba Iulia, 1999), Fig. 10/8-9.

[11] Patay, “A fényeslitkei,” Tabla III/10, Tabla V/4, Tabla XII/12.

[12] Pál Patay, “A magyarhomorogi rézkori temető,” [The Copper Age cemetery from Magyarhomorog], in Debreceni Déri Múzeum Évkönyve (1976): 173–254, Tabla II/13, Tabla III/3.

[13] Pal Patay, Das kupferzeitliche Gräberfeld von Tiszavalk-Kenderföld [Fontes Archaeologici Hungariae] (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1978), Taf. III/13, Taf. XVI/5, 7.

[14] Virag, “Cercetări,” 41–76.

[15] Németi, “Noi descoperiri arheologice,” Fig. 12/2.

[16] Patay, Das kupferzeitliche, Abr. 11/12.

[17] Patay, “A fényeslitkei,” Table VII/3.

[18] Patay, “A magyarhomorogi,” Table III/4, 8, Table III/9.

[19] Patay, Das kupferzeitliche, Taf. IV/9, Taf. V/1, Taf. X/4, Taf. VIII/3, 7, Taf. X/6, Taf. XI/6, Taf. XI/8, Taf. XVI/11.

[20] Petre Roman, “Strukturanderungen des Endaneolithikums im Donau-Karpatenraum,” in Dacia. Seria nouă 15 (1971): 31–136, Abb. 23/9.

[21] Pál Patay, “A bodrogkeresztúri kultúra belső időrendjéről,” [About the inner chronology of the Bodrogkeresztúr culture], in Archaeologiai Értesitő 133 (2008): 21–48.

[22] Roman, “Strukturanderungen”; Sven Brummack and Dragoș Diaconescu, “O abordare Bayesiană a datelor AMS aparținând epocii cuprului din Câmpia Panonică,” [A Bayesian approach to the AMS dates for the Copper Age in the Great Hungarian Plain], in Analele Banatului. Serie Nouă, Arheologie, Istorie XXIII (2015): 101–118.

[23] I am thankful to Svend Brummack and Dragoș Diaconescu for their help in obtaining ¹⁴C datings for the necropolis of Urziceni.

[24] Pál Raczky and Zsuzsanna Siklósi, “Reconsideration of the Copper Age chronology of the eastern Carpathian Basin: a Bayesian approach,” in Antiquity 87, 336 (2013): 555–573; Brummack and Diaconescu, “O abordare Bayesiană”.

[25] Adina Boroneanț, Cristian Virag, Ciprian Astaloş, and Clive Bonsall, “Sourcing obsidian from prehistoric sites in northwest Romania,” in Materiale și Cercetări Arheologice. Serie Nouă XIV (2018): 13–24.

[26] Monica Mărgărit and Cristian Virag, “Vânător și în lumea ‘de dincolo’. Analiza inventarului funerar confecționat din materii osoase, provenind dintr-un mormânt din necropola eneolitică de la Urziceni (Vamă), (jud. Satu mare),” [Hunter in the ‘other world’. The analysis of funeral inventory made of osseous materials from a grave from the Eneolithic necropolis at Urziceni (Vamă), (Satu Mare county)], in Studii și comunicări Satu Mare. Seria Arheologie XXXI-XXXII, I (2015-2016): 23–34.

Fig. 1. Urziceni-Vamă, Satu Mare County – grave 30.

Fig. 2. Urziceni-Vada Ret, Satu Mare County – grave 30. Lithics inventory. Drawn by T. J. Chmielewski.

Fig. 3. Calibrated date of Grave 30 (MAMS 22041).

Fig. 4. Urziceni-Vada Ret, Satu Mare County – grave 30. Lithics inventory. Drawn by T. J. Chmielewski.